Bim Saviya Archives

eLand Registration in Sri Lanka; A pathway for the mother of all scams? By Raj Gonsalkorale Glory of technology is such that no one will object to introducing technology to land registries. But will the land owners have their rights protected? We only admire the glory of technology as a duck gliding on water without seeing the paddling underneath. Land owners need to be alerted that their ownership rights may not be available in the land registry By Raj Gonsalkorale eLand registration will soon be operating the land registration system to secure ownership. However, it can be a source of ownership insecurity, without consumer protection laws. The risk involved in the absence of consumer protection laws to protect owners was demonstrated in USA, when New York News Paper prepared a forged deed to transfer the Empire State Building. The forged document was registered in 90 minutes, the land registry had no laws to protect owners, therefore did ...

Legitimate caveats under threat in Sri Lanka?-By Raj Gonsalkorale There is speculation that caveats, the one thing that protects genuine private land owners from fraudsters who manage to sell their land with bogus land titles, and protects genuine third parties from exploitation by land owners, is under threat and that legislation is being drawn to change land registration laws that permit caveats on land titles. This matter is something that may concern many Sri Lankans living overseas who own land in Sri Lanka and have registered legitimate caveats. It is unclear whether lawyers and notaries were consulted on this development. If not, it may seem that they are gradually being sidelined on law reform in Sri Lanka. If this indeed is an evolving trend, lawyers have to take some of the blame for this as they do not seem to have been engaged in furthering law reform in the country ...